The Future of Agriculture

The Future of Agriculture

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Dr. Dave Kohl, Globetrotting Emeritus ag econ professor from Virginia Tech, is very excited about the future of agriculture and shares one of his reasons.

Kohl: “Another element that gives me a lot of enthusiasm for agriculture is our FFA and 4-H. Just recently I was working for National FFA. Over 500,000 youth are involved in FFA and one-half of them are females. We are also seeing 21 of the 23 largest U.S. cities that have FFA chapters. Of course FFA and 4-H is the foundation of our future. Again any of you out there, support these organizations as it is going to be critical for our future success.”

Dr. Kohl says that many parents ask him if there are future careers for their children in the ag industry.

Kohl: “The answer is a resounding yes. Why? Because if you think about it agriculture directly or directly employees one out of every six Americans. One of the things I often tell young people, ‘You must be grounded in science, business, economics and communication skills. If you’ve got that package you are going to be employable.’”

That is good news for young people interested in agriculture. The many business, leadership and communication skills that both FFA and 4-H teach our youth will be critical in their future success, hopefully in an agricultural career.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.